Nonlinear Evolution of Ablation-Driven Rayleigh-Taylor Instability

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Abstract
Simulations of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of ablatively accelerated thin-shell fusion targets show that the nonlinear evolution exhibits spike amplitude saturation due to ablative mass removal; the shell anterior surface evolves to a laminar (nonturbulent) quasistationary distorted state. The perturbed flow causes a significant departure from spherically symmetric behavior, but the laminar shell interior structure makes it appear possible to retain some of the advantages of larger-aspect-ratio fusion targets.